The third book in the series with a librarian and detective duo untangling the twists of an academic institution. Since this is my first book, I had some difficulty initially with all the characters. Once I got myself around it the narrative felt smooth and continuous despite the differing POVs. The book touches on some difficult aspects of interpersonal relationships albeit superficially. The plot and the suspense was good and the prose engaging. 4.5 stars

This is the third book in the Hester Thursby series and although I don't think it's necessary to read the first two, I would recommend doing so because they are very good. Hester and her friend Angela are attending a campus opening at Prescott University. During the event Hester and Angela are asked to look into a possible burglary at the home of the parents of Vanessa Matson the president of the University. The ensuing investigation reveals some family secrets dating back many years and some financial irregularities in the University. I found Hester took more of a supporting role in this book, Angela was doing much of the investigating. That did not distract from the novel and the suspense and characters were nicely developed. Overall a very good book, highly recommended. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A toddler’s death revives family secrets and murder in “Watch Her” by Edwin Hill


Hester Thursby, a Harvard librarian, and amateur sleuth, makes her third appearance in Agatha Award nominee Edwin Hill’s mystery, “Watch Her” (Kensington). Dedicated to her job, Hester has commitment issues. For years, she’s lived with her “non-husband”, Morgan Maguire the local veterinarian, and refuses to marry him or discuss her past with him. She views Morgan’s five-year-old niece Kate as her own child, but that’s as close to establishing a family as Hester will get. She even keeps an apartment on the side as an escape hatch.
When Maxine Pawlikowski, the director of admissions of Boston’s prestigious non-profit Preston University, asks Hester to investigate a list of student alumnae, Hester soon discovers that some students do not exist. But, as Hester suspects, there’s more to the situation than a potential tuition scam. The art college, which is owned by the predatory Matson family, is the facade for a family hiding secrets, and a mystery that dates back three decades.
The mysterious drowning of a toddler, Rachel Matson, is a subject that no one will discuss. When Hester pokes around and asks questions, everyone seems sworn to secrecy. Neither Jennifer Matson, the child’s boozy mother, Tucker Matson, the child’s father and Preston’s chair of the Board, Vanessa Matson, the school’s new president and the Rachel’s older sister, Maxine, the family confident, nor her brother Stan, a cop who investigated the drowning, will discuss the child’s death. For Hester, the big questions are: what is everyone covering up and how is the Rachel’s death woven into the case of the missing students?
After a Preston student on Hester’s list is found murdered, Hester becomes embroiled in a mystery that runs even deeper than the shady student discrepancies or Rachel’s death. Each Matson is the bearer of additional secrets, which the cunning son-in-law, Gavin Dean, Preston’s CFO, has discovered and is threatening to expose. Gavin’s problem is that he, too, has committed sins. With a clan as powerful and wealthy as the Matson’s, there’s no limit to what money can buy. Even silence.
Hester, while never shying away from investigating others, has difficulty examining her own life and sharing it with others, especially her friends and family. She allows the traumas of her childhood to prevent her present and future happiness. Through the arc of the novel, Hester learns that families come in all shapes, sizes, sexual orientations and colors, and that life offers only one opportunity to make your own happiness–she simply has to trust and follow her heart.
“Watch Her” is also a tragic tale of mothers and daughters, the damage they can unknowingly cause each other, and the lengths they’ll go to protect of one another- even if the daughter is unrelated by blood, but by the heart, and even if the protectiveness leads to murder. It is also a story of forgiveness.
In “Watch Her,” the diverse supporting characters, such as a gay female detective, a graffiti artist, an art student, and many dogs, compliment the staid and uptight Hester as her hot shot research skills uncover blackmail, extra-marital affairs, and unwanted pregnancies. “Watch Her,” is a complex family saga, which will keep readers pondering long after the last drop of blood has been spilled.

Watch Her by Edwin Hill is the third book in the Hester Thursby Mystery series. This is the first book I read in the series and I can say that it acts fine as a stand alone, though this book was so fantastic that I am going to go read the first two books in the series.

Angela and Hester make a great team even though technically Hester isn't supposed to solve crimes.

Perfectly paced and well written, I loved Watch Her.

I did not realize this was the third book in a series until after I read it. I enjoyed the book without reading the series in order.
There were several reasons I subtracted one star from my rating.
1. the storyline had a slow start
2. the characters were difficult to keep track of
3. Some of the details did not make sense.
It took a while to understand why the second chapter skipped to twenty-five years later. Once I got to that point everything fell into place and the story became more interesting. The last half of the book made up for the slow start at the beginning and some of the missing details.

Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “Watch Her” by Edwin Hill, Kensington, 2020
Edwin Hill, the author of “Watch Her” has written an intriguing, captivating, suspenseful, and intense novel. This is the third novel in the Hester Thursby series, and can be read as a stand-alone, and is my favorite book in the series. The genres for this novel are Psychological Thriller, Suspense and Mystery, and Fiction. The timeline for this story is set in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events. I love the way that Edwin Hill vividly describes both the setting and his characters. The author describes his characters as complex, complicated, secretive, and quirky. There are deep dark secrets from the past that can affect both the events and characters if they come to light. There are betrayals, lies, threats, danger, and murder.

When Hester Thursby and Detective Angela White attend a college gala, they find themselves at the home of the college’s owners, the Matson's. It seems there were a break-in and Angela and Hester investigate. Hester is asked by the college management to check on a list of students. Hester seems to be drawn into a psychological web of past secrets, present lies, and danger. At the same time, Hester worries about her home life.

I would highly recommend this thought-provoking and amazing novel for readers, who enjoy an intense, suspenseful, psychological thriller. I can’t wait to read Edwin Hill’s next novel!

So I didn’t realize going into this that this book was in fact the third instalment of this series. That being said it took me quite a ways into the story before fully understanding the characters. However, I was still able to enjoy the mystery and was really captivated by the plot. I will definitely go back and read the beginning books in the future.

Watch Her
by Edwin Hill 5/5 stars
Reviewed by Book Chick

Watch Her is set in Boston and moves back and forth between the late 90’s and follows the Matson family which is brimming with secrets, betrayal and scandal as well as our main character Hester Thursby. Hester is a librarian who partners Detective Angela White who is also her best friend. In this novel they are called to investigate a break in at the Matson house but it becomes clear the longer they speak to Jennifer Matson that something more is going on and it has to do with both the for profit college owned by the Matson’s and the murder of their young daughter which occured over 20 years ago. So when a close friend of the family and CEO of the college asks Hester to help find some students who seem to have disappeared she can’t help but say yes because she needs to learn everything she can about this strange family.

I really enjoyed this book and I think it was mostly because the main characters were both strong and intelligent women. It was so nice to read a crime novel where our main character knows when she’s in trouble and tries to get out of the situation. Obviously she still found herself in some bad places but she found her way out of them quickly. Another reason I liked this book so much is because the interview with suspects and witnesses at the crime scenes seemed very realistic as did the way the detectives handled each thing that went wrong. It was also an interesting choice that the novel was set in mostly in the present yet the author chose not to add anything about the pandemic. However as he said in the acknowledgements there are some Easter eggs for the more observative readers that reflect the current state of the world. This was a fast paced novel that kept me guessing and interested. If you enjoy novels with suspense, betrayal and lots of secrets I can almost guarantee you will enjoy this book.

Book 3 is by far my favorite yet! Hester is on the hunt to solve a mystery once again ! As you see some old characters come to light as well as things that many hoped stay in the past - this book is full of twists and turns you won't be able to put it down! Edwin Hill is one of my favorite authors! Though this can be read as a standalone I highly recommend you read them all!

𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝙷𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚢 𝙴𝚍𝚠𝚒𝚗 𝙷𝚒𝚕𝚕
𝙷𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚋𝚢 𝙼𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚢 #𝟹

Let’s be real, reading a book out of order from a series as a stand-alone can be difficult sometimes. In this case, I was able to get through it, but it took until about 50% of the way in for me to actually feel invested. I felt like I couldn’t connect to the characters very well and (if we’re being honest) I kept getting the characters confused. Who were they? Who were they friends with? How do they know each other? It’s possible it was just me, and I hope others who read this apart from the series won’t have the same problem.

Hester Thursby is a librarian who moonlights as an unofficial detective. So one night when a supposed burglary has been committed, Hester tags along with Detective Angela White and a friend of the panicked family, Maxine. But... the family doesn’t seem all that panicked, or concerned for that matter. Angela and Hester begin to suspect nothing actually happened, but when Hester begins research on some missing college students, things keep leading back to one another.

Overall, I’d give this a 3.5 star rating. I felt like I was dragging until I got about halfway and then finally something clicked. I pretty much was able to figure out what happened and didn’t feel like there were many (if any) red herrings to direct me otherwise. I really enjoyed the second half of the book, but wish I was able to more enjoy the first part. Special thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I loved this book in so many ways. The story was intriguing and not your typical mystery. A lot of it was about family and dynamics although there was also murder. I think what I loved best was how diverse the cast of characters were. Not only by gender and race but by orientation including a transgender character. It added a layer of realism for me. This was book three in a series and while I hadn’t read the other two (yet, they’ve been ordered now) I was able to follow along pretty easily with this story. The story is told from a variety of perspectives and I’ll admit it was a little confusing the first few chapters to figure out who was connected to who how but once I got that mapped together it was an all together engrossing story. There’s something fishy at Prescott University - a private for profit university in Boston that is a family business for the Matson family. Numbers of student data aren’t adding up and the trail leads in some surprising directions including hinting at past scandal for the Matsons.

This mystery does not disappoint. It has so many twist and turns. It involves a couple that run a university and the scandalous secrets they are hiding from everyone and their closest friends. This book is a quick read, intriguing and a page turner.

I received this ARC for an honest review. Thank you @booksforwardpr for a copy of this book. #booksforwardfriends

Third in a series following Harvard librarian Hester Thursby, this didn’t fail to entertain me any less than the first two book did. Hester is known for finding people, and when she’s asked to help with a list of students by the executive of a private, for profit college, she gets drawn in to a quagmire of deceptions, lies and deaths that began twenty four years earlier, Hester’s friends and family are interwoven in the story, and the way the author writes about their secret fears and vulnerability make them so appealing, and as a dog lover the inclusion of the various family pets is wonderful.
While you could read this as a stand alone, I strongly suggest reading the first two books in order first because they’re wonderful, and because the background of the characters will add to your enjoyment.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy, and to the author for this great series.

This is book 3 in the series and I have not read the first two books. I didn’t really connect with the characters and I’m not sure if that is the reason. This book takes a long time to get going and become any type of suspense/thriller, but when it does, it really takes off.

Baby Rachel drowned many years ago under mysterious circumstances. The first half of the story follows her family 24 years after the event. While there is eventually a murder, I don’t want to give too much away since this happens more than halfway into the book.

I think to fully enjoy the story, you should read the first two books before this one.

Hester, her veterinarian "non-husband" Morgan, and his niece, 5-year-old Kate, are attending a gala at the new campus of Prescott University. Also in attendance are Detective Angela White. The university owners are Tucker and Jennifer Matson, and the President is Vanessa Matson, their daughter, Vanessa's husband, Gavin Dean, is CFO. However, the real mover and shaker and a sort of adjunct to the family is Maxine Pawlikowski. The only missing principal is reclusive Jennifer Matson. During the course of the evening, Maxine approaches Angela and Hester for help, and a quick visit to Pinebank, the Matson's historical mansion in Jamaica Plain. Jennifer has called reporting that Pinebank has been broken into. Maxine doubts that and would like Hester and Angela's input before making a formal report. After talking to the vague Jennifer, the three are convinced that Jennifer staged the break-in. But then, Angela is knocked down by an intruder while checking the grounds. As an aside, Maxine asks Hester to use her considerable talents as a research librarian to track down some missing alumni. One of these missing alumni is soon found murdered in her apartment.

The connections between all the characters run wide and deep in Watch Her starting with the "accidental" drowning death of 2-year-old Rachel, the youngest Matson daughter on the Pinehurst property nearly 30 years earlier: a death which quickly disappeared from the news. As Hester observes, she "doesn't need to be a police officer to know that it would take a whiteboard, string, and about a hundred hours of group therapy to figure out the dynamics going on among these people." Shame and what lengths people will go to avoid it, along with some plain everyday larceny, play a prominent role.

Watch Her has all the crime fiction elements that I most enjoy: a complex puzzle, relatable if not all likable characters, and plenty of suspense. I highly recommend it, but I also would say that it would be best to read the previous books, Little Comfort and The Missing Ones. Both are page-turners, highly addictive, with good insight into Hester and Morgan's relationship. Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an advance digital copy. The opinions are my own.

Watch Her is the third installment in the Hester Thursby mystery series from author Edwin Hill. It is a slow burning, psychological thriller.

While attending the opening of the new campus for Prescott University, Hester and Detective Angela White are asked to visit the university owners' home for a possible break-in. Once there, Angela believes Jennifer Matson, a recluse, is not telling the truth about what happened that night. But why would Jennifer lie? As Hester and Angela investigate, family and university secrets come to light, threatening to take away what the Matsons and their university manager, Maxine Pawlikowski, have built over the last few decades. What will happen when Hester learns the truth? Will she be put into danger's way once again?

I recommend this book for anyone who likes suspenseful thrillers. With easy dialogue and multiple perspectives, the book is fast paced and an easy read. If you haven't read the first two books in the series, I would encourage any reader to do so to gain a better understanding of the backstory of the characters and their relationships with each other, as some aspects are not delved into during this book. The question game Hester and Morgan play throughout the course of the book is fun and made me realize that most of the characters have issues being open about themselves and letting their truth come out. The interactions between Hester and Angela were quite enjoyable, and I would have loved more of their banter. Overall, I thought the book was engaging and enjoyable.

I received a digital ARC from NetGalley and Kensington Publishers. All opinions are my own.

Hester Thursby has a reputation for finding people, but after a few too many close calls, she's sticking close to home focused on raising her niece and her her day job as a reference library. Despite her penchant for independence, she discovers that she has accumulated a close group of friends and is beginning to consider next steps with her not-husband Morgan. When asked to gather contact details for some alumni for a local university, it seemed like a easy--and safe--assignment and she accepts the commission with Morgan's blessing. Events and people conspire to drag Hester deeper into a murder investigation than she wishes to go. I love how this series allows the characters to grow and change in the context of some rich plotting.

You can read Watch Her without having read the previous two entries, but you'll have a greater appreciation for Hester if you start from the beginning.

Thanks to Kensington for access to a digital ARC on NetGalley.

While I ended up enjoying this book, it had a very slow start for me, almost half way through. There were so many main characters and then all their relationships that it was hard to make sense of what was important. Over time it became clearer, but even then the main women characters while different in life stories, didn't have very different voices. It became an interesting light read

This book grabbed me from the beginning and didn't let go until the very end. This is the third book in the series and by far my favorite. I enjoyed reading from the multiple perspectives. Everyone had secrets and it was fun reading as the secrets were revealed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Expected publication date is December 29, 2020

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley, Kensington Books, and Edwin Hill in return for my honest review. Thank you for the opportunity.

This is the third book in the Hester Thursby series. While attending an event at a newly opened building for Prescott College, Hester and Detective Angela White are called to the home of the owner of the school. The , Hester is asked to look into some names of students of the school. While doing her research, she discovers things don’t seem right. In looking for answers, she may find more than someone wants discovered.

I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting right from the start. And I truly enjoy Hesters character. She tends to hold her secrets close, afraid to let anyone in, even her non husband Morgan. But it’s nice to slowly see her open up in this book. And you learn a lot about these characters past. This author has a way of telling a story that holds your interest, and keeps you in suspense. This book, and series, is worth a read, if you enjoy a good mystery.